Business association names board

PROSPECT — The Prospect Business Association has formalized its board of directors.

The association chose its board at a meeting June 19. Matt Buonaiuto was chosen as president. Rob Edwards, Dave Jones, Joe Corona, Tammy Enquist, Mark Mosher and Jeff Holley were chosen to serve on the board.

The association was formed in February to help draw and spur business growth in Prospect as well as help the businesses that already exist in town. In March a temporary board was named.

“We’re a networking group. We are trying to promote business and grow business in Prospect,” Buonaiuto said.

The town’s business community was previously served by the Prospect Chamber of Commerce, which disbanded in the fall of 2008. At the time, the chamber had 130 members.

The association is not a town agency and was recently recognized a nonprofit organization. Although the group is not under the auspices of the town, it is willing to work in conjunction with the newly revived Economic Development Commission to get the job done, Buonaiuto said.

“We started this group on Feb. 28 and within three months we have everything up and running already,” Buonaiuto said. “I’m impressed with the amount of work we all did.”

Buonaiuto pointed out that the group already has all of its by-laws in place. The association will host its first official meeting of the board of directors on Wednesday.

As the group finds a foothold in Prospect, Buonaiuto said, it would like to look beyond town lines and work with businesses outside of Prospect as well as the Waterbury Regional Chamber of Commerce.

“Would like to partner with Waterbury Chamber and see what we could do to have a partnership,” Buonaiuto said. “We wouldn’t want to be controlled by them, but we’d like to see what we can do to help each other out.”